Good news...

22Oct2013 Jim’s appt, short answer: GOOD NEWS! Long answer: My husband Jim had his consultation today regarding his Lung Cancer status. We did not receive any bad news today. Jim’s most recent CT and PET did NOT show any worrisome activity. Jim’s pericardium and pulmonary vein looked good. There is a small area on the right lung that will be closely monitored, but we are not alarmed. The doctor feels, and we agree, that they have done all the chemotherapy and radiation that they can do at this point. The doctor would not say “remission”, we did ask him directly. The doctor did say “guarded optimism”. The doctor stated directly to Jim that he “expects the cancer to come back within two years”. This timeline falls in line with the information that we received at the time of Jim’s pneumonectomy. *Stage 4 NSCLC that has invaded the heart has its own set of parameters. During this phase we will have a “wait and see policy” with Jim having serial CTs and PETs. We are pleased with this update. This news is good news.

This status post comes just nine short months (to the day!) after I announced on my facebook that Jim had cancer. It is just ten short months (to the day!) from Jim’s very first appointment that began this journey. We had no idea at that time that it was cancer. Our lives have certainly changed during 2013.